Montco man plied girl with drugs and sex, Bucks DA says

The "self-proclaimed' musician used an Internet site to meet the 15-year-old fan, authorities say.

August 29, 2007|By Scott Kraus Of The Morning Call

Christopher Leasher's MySpace page features a few original songs, some photos that make him look sort of like a rock star and a long list of adoring comments from fans, many of them young girls.

Bucks County detectives said Tuesday that the unsigned, "self-proclaimed" musician was after something far more sinister than a recording contract.

The 24-year-old Montgomery County man was charged with picking up one of his 15-year-old fans at a Warminster Township Kmart on June 11, buying her cocaine and taking her to his friend's Doylestown Township home, where they used drugs and had sex.

Court papers say Leasher told a Bucks County detective he calls his younger fans "teeny-boppers" and that he often talks to them online.

"I recorded some music and people paid attention to it," Leasher, of Upper Providence Township, told Detective Timothy Carroll. "It's flattering for anyone to find me attractive or want to have sex with me."

District Attorney Diane Gibbons said detectives are trying to figure out if Leasher used his "Christopher Jive" MySpace persona to sexually assault anyone else.

"He is an unemployed [24]-year-old who has delusions of grandeur," Gibbons said.

Leasher was arraigned Tuesday before Warrington Township District Judge Phillip J. Daly and released after his parents posted 10 percent of his $200,000 bail, Gibbons said.

He is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, unlawful contact or communication with a minor and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and delivery of a controlled substance.

Gibbons said that while the girl said she agreed to have sex, no minor under 16 can legally consent to sex with an adult. Also, she said, Leasher gave the girl drugs, which impaired her judgment and endangered her life.

According to court papers, Leasher had been conversing with the girl online for about a month through her MySpace account and by using AOL Instant Messenger with the screen name "ChicksDigSkinny."

Even though she told him repeatedly she was 15, she told detectives, Leasher, 23 at the time, asked her on several occasions to meet with him to have sex.

The girl told detectives that on June 11, Leasher picked her up at the Kmart in his coupe and drove her to northeast Philadelphia, where he bought cocaine and Adderall, a prescription stimulant used to treat attention deficit disorder.

About 9 p.m., Leasher drove her to the home of a friend, identified by Gibbons as 45-year-old Chris Gunderson, where Leasher gave her cocaine and Adderall, detectives allege. Gunderson, who has not been charged, told police he did not know Leasher gave the girl drugs or had sex with her.

The girl told investigators Leasher engaged in sex with her until about 7 a.m. At one point, she told police, she became feverish and Leasher put her in a tub filled with water.

Finally, around 4 p.m., Leasher dropped her off near her father's home in Warminster, the court papers say. A week later, the girl went to Doylestown police.

Gunderson told investigators he allowed Leasher to bring the girl to his home, and saw him take her, wrapped only in a towel, into a bathroom later at night. When Gunderson left the house in the morning to go to work, the door to his guest bedroom was closed and he assumed the two were still in there.

He told detectives Leasher called him later to complain that Gunderson had talked to police. "Have you been talking about me?" Gunderson said Leasher asked him. "It turns out she wasn't 18 and they're charging me with rape."

Gibbons said parents should not assume their children will make smart decisions about whom to interact with on the Internet. Predators know just what to say to take advantage of young girls' insecurities.

"What's scary to me and what I am sure parents would be surprised by is the number of kids who respond to these kind of predators online," she said.